Laguna Niguel residents sound off on train noise

Jan. 29, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Laguna Niguel resident Lori Fields sits by the train crossing next to the Saddleback Church at Rancho Capistrano as a train passes by. Fields has been contacting people in her community about getting the trains to stop using their horns. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In her Laguna Niguel home, Lori Fields points to the train crossing. The noise from the trains' horns has been a problem for Fields for several years. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The train crossing next to the Saddleback Church at Rancho Capistrano has been the source of complaints from in the Laguna Niguel community. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Laguna Niguel resident Lori Fields sits by the train crossing next to Saddleback Church at Rancho Capistrano. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Laguna Niguel resident Lori Fields sits by the train crossing next to the Saddleback Church at Rancho Capistrano as a train passes by. Fields has been contacting people in her community about getting the trains to stop using their horns. ISAAC ARJONILLA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LAGUNA NIGUEL – Lori Fields has spent two years trying to find out why trains outside her home have to sound their horns in the middle of the night, but she said no one can give her an answer.

The source of her frustration is a rail crossing in neighboring San Juan Capistrano outside a church. In the middle of the night, the crossing triggers oncoming trains to blow their horns, a warning required by state law. Then, the sound billows up the grassy hill to Fields' home on Mira Vista. The sound is so piercing at 2 a.m., it breaks through her triple-pane windows and into the ears of Fields and her husband as they try to sleep, she said.

Fields certainly isn't alone in her hatred of the horns – many Orange County cities have managed to quiet trains in cooperation with the Orange County Transportation Authority. The OCTA, as part of an $85 million rail safety enhancement plan, has built the infrastructure in eight cities to apply for "quiet zone status," meaning certain crossings won't require the train to blow its horn as usually required under state and federal law. Participating cities have contributed 12 percent of the project's cost.

Many crossings in Anaheim, Irvine, Orange, San Clemente, Santa Ana and Tustin have been silenced, but San Juan Capistrano has not yet formally applied for a "quiet zone status," meaning trains continue to sound their horns as they reach crossings there. Recent applicant Dana Point awaits a new quiet zone effective Feb. 14.

Fields doesn't understand why the train horn rips through the silence of her neighborhood while others in Orange County can enjoy peace and quiet.

"It's unfair," Fields said. "When I read of other cities being able to have quiet bells it makes me angry."

But it turns out the specific crossing bothering Fields is ineligible for the quiet zones program, leaving the crossing in a sort of auditory purgatory. In fact, the only way the crossing will ever be silenced is if it ceases to exist, said Joel Zlotnik, media relations officer for OCTA.

Why? Because the crossing, outside Saddleback Church at Rancho Capistrano, 29251 Camino Capistrano, provides vehicles access onto a private road, making it a "private crossing." And while the crossing received some improvements through the OCTA safety program, it will never be silenced through the quiet zones program because only public crossings are eligible.

"This crossing cannot become a quiet zone," Zlotnik said. "The only way it could be silenced is if the private owner decided to either build a bridge or tunnel to separate the road from the tracks. If there is no crossing, there is no need for the train to blow its horn."

In some cases, private crossings can be added to quiet zones in the surrounding area if the private landowner asks the city to be included, said Andrew Kotch, spokesman for the California Public Utilities Commission. But this particular crossing isn't within the required quarter-mile from a quieted public crossing, so that's impossible, too, Zlotnik said.

Of the 63 crossings in Orange County that field daily freight, commuter, and passenger rail traffic, Zlotnik said the OCTA has improved or plans to improve 57. Of those crossings, 37 of them have been quieted through the OCTA program, with the Dana Point crossing bringing the total to 38 by Feb. 14.

"It's just not an eligible crossing," Zlotnik said.

But for Fields, these complications just mean the horn will continue to blow. So she's armed her home against the noise – to little avail, she said.

"First we went from single-pane, to double-pane, to triple-pane," Fields said, but the horns pierce through the air and past all those panes in the wee hours, like at 2 a.m. "It's just a little crazy."

Other Laguna Niguel residents living on Mira Vista have also experienced the shock of a midnight train horn to the ear.

"Well, they are annoying," 27-year resident Dennis Revel said. "Some guys really lay on the horn at 2 in the morning."

LuAnn Reinzuch, also a 27-year resident, isn't surprised the train is causing a stir in the community – or that the noise isn't going away. There's just too much going on down there, from the church to the soccer games to potential development there in the future.

"Sometimes it'll throw you out of bed in the middle of the night," Reinzuch said. "It would be really nice if they didn't have to honk that horn but there's so much going on down there from so many directions."

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